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Chesterfield County’s top prosecutor on Friday responded to criticism leveled by the county’s police chief and a state delegate after her office chose to abandon its case against a Virginia Beach pastor arrested during a prostitution sting two years ago.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Stacey Davenport issued a news release Friday morning in which she sought to explain her office’s reasons for asking a judge to withdraw charges against Rock Church senior pastor John Blanchard, and to clap back at Virginia Beach State Del. Tim Anderson, who has been highly critical of the move.
Blanchard was one of 17 men arrested during an October 2021 police sting at a motel in Chesterfield County. Police said the men had been communicating online with an undercover officer posing as a 17-year-old prostitute and arranged to meet the person at the motel. All were charged with solicitation of prostitution and those who drove there also were charged with using a vehicle to promote prostitution.
Court records show prosecutors chose to fully prosecute all the cases except Blanchard’s and one other. Anderson and Police Chief Jeffrey Katz have taken to social media in recent weeks to criticize the move.
“This office stands by its decision to nolle prosequi the case,” Davenport wrote in her release. “The decision was based solely upon the law, the facts of the case, and the professional experience and ethical duties of the prosecutors. Any assertion to the contrary is offensive to every prosecutor in this office and is patently false.”
Davenport, who was elected in 2019, went on to say that “while it is clear that Delegate Tim Anderson wants to continue the public debate over the way the Chesterfield Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office handled the case... moral outrage is no substitute for evidence.” She also accused him of attempting to politicize the case.
Anderson, an attorney and Republican elected to represent the 83rd District in 2021, described Davenport’s statement as “nonsense” and called on her to resign.
“Highlighting political corruption is not politics,” Anderson wrote in an email to The Virginian-Pilot in response to Davenport’s statement. “It’s called accountability.”
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The delegate went on to write, “When I make promises - I keep them. Here is my promise to the citizens of Va Beach and Chesterfield - I am not letting go of this until justice is served.”
Anderson filed a Freedom of Information Act request for police records related to Blanchard’s arrest after the pastor’s charges were withdrawn in October, and obtained a transcript of the text messages police said Blanchard exchanged with an undercover officer posing as a teenage prostitute.
Davenport also responded to criticism from Katz, who posted a message on Facebook earlier this week in which he spoke of his “fervent support for the quality of the case” his investigators put together against Blanchard and his disagreement with Davenport not to prosecute the case.
“This office prosecuted over 10,000 cases in 2022, so it is inevitable that our office and the Chesterfield Police Department will occasionally disagree on the strengths and weaknesses of individual cases,” Davenport wrote in her release. “However, my staff and I take great pride in always discussing those disagreements privately and not allowing them to affect our working relationship.”
Last month, Blanchard filed a petition in Chesterfield County Circuit Court asking to have his charges expunged from his record. If a judge grants the request, all police and court records related to his case would be sealed from public view, but not destroyed. They could only be viewed after that with the court’s permission.
Davenport’s office is not opposing the request, but Anderson has filed a motion opposing it. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 21 in Chesterfield County Circuit Court.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com